Introduction -- How two bad apples created a computer company -- Walkman caught the world's ear -- Business wisdom from sages -- Life saver got its hole -- Ben & Jerry's real cool business Cadillac got its fins -- Business sense -- Rise and fall of he Sears catalog -- Big Mac became the hottest thing between buns -- MTV: Video killed th radio star -- What's in a name? -- Jell-o got the shakes -- Bic got is ball rolling -- Coke hates pepsi (and vice versa) Silly putty bounced back from oblivion -- Corporate culture -- We go stuck on those little yellow post-it things -- Gatorade sweats it out in the market -- Cracker Jacks became a prized snack food -- Fighting the Kaiser created Kleenex and Kotex -- Barney became the most successful extinct being ever (except, of course, Elvis) -- Consumer reports: Every watchdog has its day -- Betty Crocker baked her way to the top -- Goodyear Blimp got its nose in the air -- Popsicle got on the stick -- Reader's Digest: Condensed history -- Spam resulted from to many cold shoulders -- Customer service -- Celestial seasonings steeped in the 1960's Levi's moved from a miner to a major fashion item -- Marlboro man got a sex change -- Smoke screen -- Radio comedian made Colonel Sanders turn chicken -- Muzak invented mood-elevator music -- America's biggest defeat? Not the Viet Cong ... Donkey Kong -- Biting the wax tadpole of the international marketing -- Johnson & Johnson's band-aid solution -- Greyhound put on the dog -- Cute mascot can reform the image of a sullied corporation -- Man who would be king gave America it's closest shave -- Unclean dippers got America whistling Dixie -- damn that Ralph Nader! -- Lloyd's of London got out of coffee ... and into hot water -- Sugar Daddy's no sucker for commies -- You care enought to send a $1.50 card ... -- Baskin-Robbins has 31 flavors -- Air jordans led to shoe inflation -- More business wisdom from the sages -- Polaraoid schizophrenia -- TV dinners became tray chic -- God, mammon, and othe renlightened quotes -- WD-40: Petroleum distillate ... or elixir of the gods? -- Swatch saved the Swiss watch industry -- Twinkies got cremed -- VW bugged Detroit's autocracy -- Kellogg's flakey beginnnings -- Energizer bunny keeps its hops up

"Such products as Coca-Cola, Cracker Jacks, Levi's jeans, and TV dinners have gone beyond the world of business to enter our collective consciousness, while such marketing devices as the Pillsbury Dough-Boy, Chiquita Banana, Elsie the Cow, and the Marlboro man have become cultural icons. In How the Cadillac Got Its Fins, Jack Mingo traces the surprising, unbelievable, and amazing stories behind the invention and marketing of many of the products and companies that shape our lives." "Among the many revelations in How the Cadillac Got Its Fins are: the truth about Spam, without actually having to eat it; how the founders of Apple Computer really first went into business (Hint: The FBI would not have approved); where Jell-O came from and what it's really made of; how Marlboro cigarettes received a marketing sex change; how the Life Saver got its hole (Hint: It was not intentional); how few videos MTV actually had when it started, and the identity of the aging British rocker who was featured in an inordinate number of them; why the engineers who built the first Walkman considered it a failure; and the real reason the Kellogg brothers invented corn flakes (to satisfy one appetite while suppressing another), and the issue that divided them for life." "In addition to these startling truths, we also get to hear from tobacco company executives about why smoking is good for you, advertising executives on the humanizing effects of billboards on the landscape, and Adam Smith's views on the real reason for business entertainment and trade associations."

"In How the Cadillac Got Its Fins, Jack Mingo relates scores of business stories and anecdotes, about products ranging from WD-40 to the VW Bug, from Celestial Seasonings to Colonel Sanders, from Muzak to Super Mario Brothers. You'll be amazed at the brilliance and appalled at the boneheadedness revealed in the pages of this chronicle of the inventors, business leaders, advertisers, and marketers who affect nearly every aspect of our lives."--BOOK JACKET

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